In recent years, robots have come to be widely used in many industrial fields. Wearable robots which are used by being worn by persons, as well as robots which are equipped with artificial intelligence so as to operate autonomously have been researched and developed.
The core technique in wearable robots is to detect the operation intended by a wearer and operate a robot according to the wearer's intention. Accordingly, in order to detect a wearer's intention and control a wearable robot, there are various control methods which may deduce the torque applied to joint drive units of the robots using the force applied to the robots by the movement of the wearer.
However, since these control methods are methods applied during typical walking, it is difficult to apply the methods to special cases, such as when climbing stairs.
In particular, when a wearer ascends stairs in the state of wearing a wearable robot, the wearer needs greater force in order to bear the weight of the robot. Therefore, the wearer's legs experience an increased load, related to bearing the weight, when the wearer walks up stairs.
Thus, in the case of using an existing method for controlling the operation of a wearable robot, since the load applied to a wearer while ascending stairs is greater than when the wearer is not wearing a robot, there are resultant problems related to the usefulness and efficiency of the robot.
The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and is not intended to mean that the present disclosure falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.